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KRIS HUNDLEYAs Oldsmobile's clock winds down, loyalists buy the last new ones while vintage car buyers revisit older models.
Sometime within the next few weeks the last new Oldsmobile will disappear off a Tampa Bay car lot, most likely snapped up by a longtime Olds customer determined to salvage a bit of automotive history.
More than three years after General Motors announced it was discontinuing the brand, the last Oldsmobile Alero rolled off the assembly line in Lansing, Mich., in late April.
About a half-dozen Aleros are still on the lot at Ferman Oldsmobile in Tarpon Springs; they're down to two at Pasco Motors in Dade City. A handful of older Aleros, Auroras and Bravada SUVs are outnumbered by new Saturns at Lokey Olds in Clearwater.
Among the owners of the last Oldsmobiles: the town of Oldsmar, which got a cherry-red 2004 Alero thanks to a local benefactor. The purchase has historical significance. The town at the top of Tampa Bay was founded in 1913 by Ransom Eli Olds, the man who started the Oldsmobile car company in 1897.
"Sales have been waning, but a few diehards are still coming down, buying what's left," said Ed Mahoney, sales manager for Ferman in Tarpon Springs. "I'm kind of saddened to see it go."
Nearly 80 percent of the nation's 2,800 Olds dealers handled multiple auto franchises, so they won't be left with empty lots. Chevy and Volvo will cover the asphalt at Ferman in Tarpon Springs; Buicks, Pontiacs and GMC vehicles will take over at Pasco Motors.
When GM said it was phasing out America's oldest automobile brand in December 2000, it was news that surprised few but disappointed many. Flagging sales, an aging customer base and defection of younger drivers to brands such as BMW and Acura were cited as reasons for killing off the brand, which joined General Motors in 1908.
Fans still believe Olds could have been saved.
"GM chose to turn off the spigot," said Frank North, spokesman for Ferman, which had the oldest Oldsmobile franchise in the nation, dating from 1902. "Cadillac is coming back and gaining a younger audience. Olds could have done the same."
Olds' aficionados remember the line's heyday in the late 1960s, when its 442 blew the doors off other muscle cars. "They were at the cutting edge of body and engine design, speed and performance," North said.
Then came the gas crisis of the early 1970s, the influx of fuel-efficient Japanese cars and the spawning of look-alike cars. In the 1980s GM instituted "badge engineering": the practice of producing essentially the same car and selling it, with only minor exterior changes, under several different labels.
The final straw for Olds loyalists came in 1996 when the carmaker produced the Aurora, but didn't put the Oldsmobile flag on it for fear of hurting sales.
Charlie Amaral of New Port Richey is a latecomer to the Olds fan club, buying his first vintage Olds 442 in 1998. A retired trainer for McDonalds Corp., Amaral, 55, collects the high-performance American muscle cars he could only dream of when he was a teen. Now he owns four: a 1968 Olds 442 W30 and Olds Hurst models from '68, '69, and '83.
He said their value has appreciated 50 percent over the last three years.
"They're a very hot commodity right now," he said, estimating the price range for a fully reconditioned, high-performance car at $30,000 to $40,000. "And having the line discontinued will only increase the value. Because people who always liked an Olds will always want an Olds."
Diane Richardson, community relations manager at Pasco Motors, said that's what her sales people hear from customers who have bought about 90 new Oldsmobiles off the Dade City lot this year. She said since parts will be available for the 2004 models for at least 20 years and the brand will continue to be serviced by any GM dealer, loyalists haven't hesitated to buy the last of the line.
"People become very attached to their car brands," Richardson said. "We have people who say their first car was an Olds and their last ones will be too."
- Kris Hundley can be reached at hundley@sptimes.com or 727 892-2996.